Short Stature And Growth Hormone Therapy

• January 5, 2021

Short stature is a general term for people whose height is considerably below average compared to the height of their peers. While it can apply to adults, the term is more commonly used to refer to children.

A child can be significantly shorter than their friends and still be perfectly healthy. This is particularly true if both parents are also shorter than average. Genetics is a major determinant of height.

However, short stature can sometimes indicate an underlying medical problem. In these cases, many children can grow to a normal height with proper treatment. For others, short stature may be permanent.

Your child’s doctor will measure your child’s height and then refer to a growth chart. This chart shows the average height of other children of the same age and sex.

The assessment of height will vary depending on the population your child is from. Exact cutoff points can vary between country and growth charts.

Based on an evaluation of tall and short stature children, doctors consider a child to be of short stature if their height is less than 2 standard deviations below the rest of the population.

What causes short stature?

The 3 major reasons for short stature are constitutional growth delay, genetics, and disease.

Constitutional growth delay

Some children simply develop later than others. These kids are small for their age and often enter puberty later. However, they’ll continue to grow after their friends have stopped. They usually catch up by adulthood.

Genetics

If one or both parents are short, there’s a strong possibility that their child will also be short.

If there are no underlying medical reasons why either parent is short, their child’s short stature may be perfectly healthy.

Disease

A number of diseases may cause unusually short stature. These diseases fall into several categories.

Endocrine diseases. Endocrine diseases affect hormone production and often height. These include:

1. growth hormone deficiency (GHD)
2. hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone levels)
3. Cushing’s disease

Chronic diseases. Some chronic diseases can also decrease height through their effects on overall health. Examples include:

1. heart disease
2. asthma
3. inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
4. diabetes
5. kidney problems
6. sickle cell anemia
7. juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)

Genetic conditions. Genetic conditions that affect height include Down syndrome, Turner syndrome, and Williams syndrome.

Bone and skeletal diseases. These diseases, like rickets or achondroplasia, may change stature through their effects on bone growth.